Next up Collegiate Track Nationals in Austin, Texas this september. Go Skyhawks! All photos from road nats by Chad Cheeney.
Great work FLC. Third place in the Team Omnium for the second year in a row. Several podiums and a mens Team Time Trial championship ride made for a great 2012 road season. Pictured left to right, Coach Elke, Mechanic Dylan, Ryan, Lauren, Payson, Rotem, Griffen, Sarah, Ben, Howard, Meghan, Russ, Willey, Missy, Coach Dan and Manager Dave.
Check here for all the results.
On another note, FLC's Sarah Sturm has been invited to join the USA Cycling Collegiate All Star team that will compete at a big domestic racer later this season. Sarah is the 3rd FLC womens athlete to make the prestigious team. Kristen McGrath and Missy Erickson are the other two. Great work Sarah!
For the THIRD consecutive season, FLC Cycling is USA Cycling’s #1 Division I collegiate cycling program in the country!
The Skyhawks jump for joy after sealing the deal on the best overall cycling college in the land. Tell yer' friends!
It’s True! Marien 1st, CU 2nd, FLC 3rd, Davis 4th and Lindenwood 5th.
Rotem takes 6th after Griffen crashes out of the breakaway.
It’s true, Sarah and Lauren take 3rd and 5th today.
Griffen prepares for the battle ahead. A battle in which he would finish in 4th place.
Missy Erickson takes 5th place for FLC.
Lauren Catlin rode to a top 25 finish for FLC.
Sarah Sturm rode to 8th place for the Skyhawks.
Your FLC Skyhawks are currently in 2nd place in the team omnium division, behind defending national champions, Marian University of Indiana. Stanford and Colorado University are currently tied for third. Check the results here. The ladies race at 2:30pm on the downtown course and the men go around 5pm. Go Skyhawks!
Follow along live timing here.
Spread your wings and fly today my Skyhawk friends!
FLC Men win by 4 seconds over Stanford. 3rd Marian, 4th CSU. 5th App State.
FLC Skyhawk Women take 5th on the day. Nice work Skydonkeys!
Today our Fort Lewis Skyhawks take to the Team Time Trial. The Ladies team rolls off first at 830am with the team of Sarah, Lauren, Missy and Meghan. Then an hour later the Men go with a team of Griffen, WIlley, Payson and Rotem. Follow along with the live timing here.
Race Info is here.
Tim Tebow was here.
Coaches Dan Bowman and Elke Brutsaert have taken the 2012 FLC Skyhawks to the RMCCC peak and now its time to take on the nation. Dan is a former pro domestic for the Kelly Benefits team and Elke is a former world cup downhill star for Schwinn Factory Team. Both are pumped to be back in the cycling scene and have tons of experience to offer the young Skyhawks. Rock on to both of you! Yes, Elke is packing heat and no they are not mad at you...but watch yourself!
Your 2012 FLC Skyhawks.
Its official, the Skyhawks have flown the coop and are off to the 2012 Collegiate National Road Championships. Taking place in Ogden, Utah, the FLC squad is returning to the championship race to try and win their first ever road title. A team that has won numerous mountain and cyclocross titles, the elusive road and track titles still await them. My name is Chad Cheeney and I am a FLC graduate and Cycling team alumni. I will be covering the team, through random photo work this entire weekend. Please follow along as our Skyhawks take their fun show on the road. Go Skyhawks!
Race info
2012 FLC SKYHAWK Roster
Rotem Ishay
Russell Brown
Howard Grotts
Griffen Easter
Ryan Cleveland
Payson McElveen
Willy Zellmer
Ben Stalker
Lauren Catlin
Sarah Sturm
Meghan Kane
Ashlee Robinson
Sarah Sturm
Missy Erickson
Staff
Director Dave Hagen
Coach Dan Bowman
Coach Elke Brutsaert
Mechanic Dylan Stucki
Media Chad Cheeney
Thats me.
Mechanic Dylan reflects.
In what is always a very difficult decision, we’d like to take all of you, coaches Bowman and Brutsaert have decided upon the team that will represent Fort Lewis College at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals, May 4-6 2012 in Ogden, UT. We have put the teams for events together to give, what we believe, our best chance at achieving individual and team championships.
The Team Time Trial is out on Antelope Island, where previous USAC Elite National Time Trials have been held, – the courses generally rolling with a couple mile-long climbs and is long at 32K.
The 1.6K criterium in downtown Ogden has 8 corners and a false flat drag to the line.
The Road Race has riders doing generally flat opening circuits, 3 for the women and 4 for the men, before heading out on a 25 mile loop that includes the beastly climb of North Ogden Pass before dropping back down to the line. The women are coin 62.69 miles with 8322ft in elevation gain while the men are doing 77.74 miles with 9673ft of gain.
Tons of info can be found at: http://www.usacycling.org/2012/collegiate-road-nationals
Please keep an eye on the team blog – http://cycling.fortlewis.edu starting next Wednesday, May 2 for accounts and images from our trip.
The schedule of events is as follows:
Friday May 4 - 8–11am – Team Time Trial
Saturday May 5 – 2:15pm – Women’s Div I Criterium
5pm – Men’s Div I Criterium
Sunday May 6 – 8am – Women’s Div I Road Race
12:30pm – Men’s Div I Road Race
2012 FLC Cycling Road Nats Team
Women
Missy Erickson – TTT, CR, RR
Sarah Sturm – TTT, CR, RR
Lauren Catlin – TTT, CR, RR
Meghan Kane – TTT
Ashlee Robison – CR, RR
Tilly Field – RR
Men
Rotem Ishay – TTT, RR
Griffin Easter – TTT, CR, RR
Ryan Cleveland – CR
Ben Stalker – CR
Willy Zellmer – TTT, CR, RR
Howard Grotts – RR
Russell Brown – RR
Payson McElveen – TTT, RR
Thanks to all the teams from the RMCCC for making the trip down – glad our weather was nice for you all for once.
We also need to thank our supporters Coca Cola, Zia, Subway, Basin Coop, all of the residents who let us use their neighborhoods for the races, the City Of Durango, La Plata County and, of course, Fort Lewis College.
The biggest thanks goes to all of our 77 volunteers and especially the La Plata County Mounted Patrol for their traffic management assistance – the road race wouldn’t have happened without them.
Results posted soon.
Gordon Thomas made some great videos this weekend, click on your choice below:
Men\’s A Criterium 4.21.12
Women\’s A Road Race 4.22.12
Below are links to the preview and race recaps of the weekend:
Race Preview – 4/20/12
TTT and Criterium
Road Race
Click Here for the - Squawker Race Flyer
Click Here for the - Road Race Traffic Plan – 4/22/12
March 29, 2012
The Fort Lewis College Cycling Team will hold its annual Squawker Classic road racing events April 21st and 22nd. Collegiate cyclists from the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference will descend upon Durango for one of the toughest weekends of racing and the last competition before USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals in Ogden UT on May 4-6, 2012.
The action will begin Saturday morning April 21st with the “Animas Surgical Hospital/La Posta Team Time Trial.” Four-person collegiate teams and individual racers will start the intersection of River Road and CR 213 at one-minute intervals, finishing 13 miles later on CR213 before Highway 550. Races will finish by 10:00am.
There may be short delays on CR 213 to allow riders to start.
Racing action will continue Saturday, at 11:00am with the “Specialized Neighborhood Criterium” taking place in the historic downtown residential area. The course is a fast spectator friendly circuit utilizing 4th, 5th, and 6th Avenues as well as 8th, 9th, and 10th streets. Racing concludes at 6pm.
For the Criterium the streets will be closed to traffic and parking.
Racing concludes on Sunday April 22nd with the “Coca-Cola Road Race,” starting at 8:00am on Rim Drive. Will continue on North Rim Drive (CR239), turn right on North College/Goeglein Gulch Road (CR238), and right on East 8th Avenue back to Rim Drive, completing the tough 6-mile circuit. Racing concludes at 4pm.
To ensure a safe event for participants the following roads will be closed to vehicles from 8am to 4pm:
Westbound Goeglein Gulch between the Ft. Lewis Dr. roundabout and 8th Ave
8th Ave. between College Dr. and the Rim Dr. traffic signal
Westbound N. Rim Dr. (CR239) from N. College to Hillcrest Golf Course
Minor traffic delays can be expected during the team time trial and road race. The criterium course will be completely closed to traffic from 10am-6pm on Saturday, April 21st.
There will be USA Cycling categories for the time trial, the criterium and road race.
For an official flyer with all the details, course maps and traffic plan maps please visit the FLC Cycling website at http://cycling.fortlewis.edu.
Come watch your #1 ranked Skyhawk cyclists in action against our conference foes.
Volunteers will gladly be accepted.
For more information contact Dave Hagen at HAGEN_D@fortlewis.edu
Stalker by Dan Hubbard
FLCCycling at Mesa State Team Time Trial, Criterium, and Road Race
Saturday- TTT and Twilight Criterium
The FLC riders got to experience an epic drive over Red Mountain Passbefore settling in to their Grand Junction hotel on Friday night. They woke up early Saturday morning to the smell of bacon and pancakes soaking in buffet tray greasy amazing-ness. Thefirst races of the weekend were the team time trials. After a painful registration, the teams were sent off, with Men’s A going first. Our speediest team that morning was that of Griffin Easter, Gabe Murray, Rotem Ishay, and Ben Stalker, who earned 3rd place in the competition. Our next A team was Robbie Jones, Skylar Trujillo, Payson McElveen, and Howard Grotts. Trevor Brooks, Kenji Fortune, Ryan Cleveland, and Andrew Llewellyn were our next A team. Aaron Canale, Alex Howard, Gilbert Ducournau, and Tyler Brickle made up our final men’s A team. Our only Men’s B team of Liam Wholly, Dan Hubbard, Galen Blair, and Josh McDowell went hard from the gun but also had the goal to keep all the riders together. They were successful in doing this and put up a good fight against the other Bs. Next up were the ladies. The team of Missy Erickson, Sarah Sturm, Meghan Kane, and myself bested our only CU rivals! Tilly Field, Ivie Crawford, Brittany White, and Ashlee Robison put in a good effort and experienced riders Tilly and Ivie helped to mentor Ashlee and Brittany in their first TTT.
The FLC squad got the rest of the day to hang out and relax before the downtown twilight crits that evening. The B women were first to go and put on an exciting race. Meghan Kane set the pace for the early part of the race, but soon a break of eight or so girls managed to get a gap on the field. Our Ashlee Robison made the break and raced smart, making sure not to do much work. Meghan worked hard in the chase and Nathalie Krantz and Brittany White rode smart in small groups andavoided sketchy moves. The breakaway group got smaller as the laps ticked away but Ashlee never let up. She sprinted to a 3rd place just behind the CU winner- who also happens to be a national champion on the Guatemalan track.
The C men were next. FLC representatives were Dan Hubbard and Josh McDowell. Unfortunately, the two were placed at the back of the group at the start after the clinic. They had no problems making their way into the field and the two surfed the pack with confidence. Dan played it safe and avoided sketchy maneuvers by the Air Force and finished in the group sprint. Josh was not far behind in the chase.
The A ladies began just after the sun had set. Luckily, there were more than 10 riders in this race, and it turned out to be an exciting one. Missy Erickson, Sarah Sturm, Tilly Field, Ivie Crawford, and I went into the race with the plan to protect our speed racer Missy. CU tried to break the race up by sending out flyers, but Sarah and I did our best to keep them from doing damage. At one point, CU had a girl out solo in front, but Sarah and Missy put down some major watts to pull her back! The pace slowed down with about 6 laps to go as the group was back together and everyone knew it would be a sprint. Sarah took to the front and revved the pace up to make sure that CU could not organize at the front. On the finishing straight, Sarah’s awesome lead out was complete and Missy came around for the sprint but her bar tape unraveled and she was unable to go full-throttle to the line. She kept it upright and still finished 2nd, but would take home the win in conference points because the winner was a rider from UC Davis on spring break. Tilly and Ivie battled a pro mountain biker Durangatang in the chase.
The B men were next with Payson McElveen, Galen Blair, Liam Wholly, and Tyler Brickle representing FLC. The pack stayed together until one lone Air Force rider managed to escape the clutches of the peloton. Payson was doing serious work at the front and began to settle in to rest for the final laps. As he was planning his strategy for the grand finale, he was caught off guard as everyone around him slowed down. The race was ended 5 minutes early and the officials did not make it clear enough for most riders to hear. Galen and Liam worked well together and finished not far behind the main pack of a competitive B field.
The last race of the night was the showdown of the big boys- the Men’s A. Our riders throwing down were Rotem Ishay, Griffin Easter, Robbie Jones, Ben Stalker, Kenji Fortune, Aaron Canale, Ryan Cleveland, Gilbert Ducournau, Alex Howard, Trevor Brooks, Gabe Murray, Howard Grotts, Andrew Llewellyn, and the freshly upgraded Skylar Trujillo. It was sure to be a moonlit battle for glory and the adoration of the people of downtown Grand Junction. The pace was fierce from the start but not enough to scare our boys. They were not building forts in the back but mansions in the front! Early on in the race our very own Ben Stalker made it into a 5 man break for a good chunk of the race. CSU chased it down though and got the group together again. Griffin Easter and Ryan Cleveland showed everyone their crit-finesse as they worked the peloton. Coach Dan made sure to point out the size of Griffin’s bits yet again as the young lad staked out a comfortable position at the front. Trevor, Howard, Gabe, Kenji “rain man” Fortune and Robbie “on the hoods” Jones were riding well and smart in the group. Skylar showed us that he was clearly ready for the A’s as he raced alongside seasoned road racers. A little over half way through the race, Rotem made it into a 3-man break with riders from CU and Mesa. They gained ground on the peloton with every lap until there was no hope of bringing them back. There was a crash on one of the corners with 4 to go, but Ryan and Griffin were lucky to make it out unscathed and ready to take names later on. Rotem earned 3rd after a difficult sprint won by the German from Mesa who had the home race advantage. Ryan won the field sprint for 4th place but must have been confused as he raised his arms in victory anyways… Unfortunately, Kenji and Gabe got tangled in the crash.
Sunday- Road Race
We had riders to represent FLC in every category. In the Men’s C race, Josh McDowell had a great race out in the mesa and took home 4th place after an early breakaway formed. Dan Hubbard finished the difficult race in the group.
The B women had an eventful day. Brittany White unfortunately flatted early on, so Meghan Kane and Ashlee Robison were left to battle it out in a large field. The race blew apart on the first climb with Ashlee in the lead group and Meghan later bridging up on the flat section. On the second climb the pack splintered again but Ashlee stuck it out in the front group. There was a crash on the second half of the loop and the injured rider began seizing and bleeding from the ears. Ashlee stopped racing to help the girl and make sure she could still breathe until the ambulance came- nicely done Ashlee! She finished in the group that had beenwith the crash.
Tilly by Dan Hubbard
Sarah Sturm, Missy Erickson, Tilly Field, Ivie Crawford, and I raced the women’s A road race. The group broke apart on the second climb and Sarah and I were together in the front group. I got shelled on the feed zone climb but worked with the UC Davis rider to get back to Sarah and the other 3 leaders. We stayed together until the end of the 3rd lap. We knew CU would attack on the final feed zone climb and that Sarah would need to be well rested to out ride them to the finish. She was smart and made sure to not take any pulls before the climb. Sure enough, her and the 2 CU riders blew by me as if I had been standing still and were out of sight at the top. Sarah showed that she didn’t need any help at all as she rode the two CU ladies off her wheel before the descending finish to take the W. The elusive Tilly did not let the grueling 60 miles get the best of her as she finished the race after dropping a CSU rider on the downhill- pro downhiller status, Tilly!
It was a good day for our B men. Payson “what’s-that-guy-doing-on-a-road bike” McElveen avenged himself after the crit last night and rode to solo victoryafter dropping his breakaway companion on the final feed zone climb. Maybe he is a roadie after all! Liam Wholly and Galen Blair did not describe this race as their favorite but still put in a good effort over the torturous 60 miles in the mesa.
The A men faced a long 72 mile race on Sunday morning. Unfortunately we lost one early on as Kenji flatted before the first climb. Soon two CU riders got away from the group. Griffin Easter, Howard Grotts, Rotem Ishay and Robbie Jones worked hard to bring them back. We had another FLC taken by a flat tire as Ryan Cleveland was unable to repair his deflated tubular. Howard managed to get in the chase group that broke away from the peloton. He dominated the climbs and was our 1st Fort Lewis finisher in 5th place. Go Howard! Rotem also showed his versatility in dominating bike races of all sorts and grabbed 8th place for FLC. Robbie had a great race too and finished in the group after Howard’s. Griffin was spent from chasing down the CU riders but nevertheless finished not far from Robbie’s group.
The FLC Cycling Team is off to the front range this weekend for a Time Trail hosted by the University of Wyoming on Saturday and a Criterium hosted by Colorado College on Sunday.
By Lauren Catlin
Full results at www.RMCCC.org
Pictures soon hopefully!
Colorado School of Mines/University of Denver Race Report – 3/17-18/12
With the Fort Lewis College Cycling Team all amped up for the first team races of the year there was a lot of great energy as the team rolled out on a warm and sunny Friday afternoon. After an uneventful drive,that’s how we like it, the team arrived on the Front Range, did some reconnaissance on the hill-climb Time Trial course and refueled in preparation for the weekend’s races.
The college kids were psyched that their 4-mile journey up Lookout Mountain against the clock did not start until 12noon. It was a warm day with no wind so the times were going to be fast for the race hosted by the Colorado School of Mines. Fast indeed, as the highlight of the day was FLC’s Howard Grotts flying, as only Skyhawks can do on his amazing Specialized rig, up the iconic climb in 16 minutes and 47 seconds. His time was the second fastest ever up the hill – only Tom Danielson has done it faster in 16:04 – and his closest competitor was behind by 1:30. Griffin Easter also had a solid showing in 6th place (18:45) and Robbie Jones finished the top 10 with a 19:22.The rest of the A Men Skyhawks were: 18. Gabe Murray-19:47, 19. Willy Zellmer-19:49, 23. Aaron Canale-20:27, 29. Trevor Brooks-21:29, 32. Andrew Llewellyn-21:52, 34. Gilbert Ducournau-23:17 and Russell Brown broke his chain with shear horsepower.
The Women’s A Skyhawks were ready to do battle with their archrival CU ladies. Sarah Sturm and Lauren Catlin, both of whom just recently got back on their bikes after competing at Cyclocross Nationals in January,threw down their personal best times to capture 3rd and 4th place with 22:28 and 23:57 respectively. That bodes well as both ladies begin to ramp up their fitness in preparation for Collegiate Road Nationals in early May.
FLC Cycling had Meghan Kane and Ashleigh Weibel (first bike race ever – yeah!) representing in the Women’s B category. Meghan stopped the clock in 32:03 for a 5th place finish and Ashleigh brought home 7th with a 38:25.
We knew we had a stacked Men’s B roster with 2 pro mountain bikers toeing the line. Devo Sweet Elite racer Payson McElveen took the topspot on the podium with a time of 19:18 and jack of all trades Skyler Trujillo punching his ticket for 3rd place with a 19:36 – both riders are freshman. Tyler Brickle rolled in at 26:53 for 26th place.
In the Men’s Cs Josh McDowell grabbed 4th place with a 21:22, Liam Wholly 11th (23:07), Tyler Smith 19th (24:22), and Dan Hubbard 21st (24:39).
Post hill-climb most of the team headed from the top to have a cool down ride over to Red Rocks and then back to the Hotel. Tragedy struck on the way back when Tyler Smith hit a “parking” car and broke his scapula – everyone wish Tyler a speedy recovery.
Another warm sunny day greeted us as the team headed down to City Park for some Criterium racing hosted by the University of Denver on arelatively flat course with three roundabouts and a false-flat run-in to the line.
The Men’s C category was the first off after the clinic that the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference runs for the bottom least-experienced racers. The range of experience instantly made itself apparent as the race started from the gun and many riders were shelled. The FLC racers held their own in the main bunch for the majority of the race and a crash with 4 laps to go took down Liam “King of the Group Ride” Wholly. He scampered up to the pit, took his free lap, replaced his flat rear tire, and got back into the main bunch to finish a solid 5th place. Josh McDowell showed some strength but spent too much time out in the wind and eventually got dispatched from the main group – lesson learned. Official results have not yet been posted but the rest of the Skyhawks rode their best and finished strong.
The B Men Skyhawks were up next and Skyler and Payson were instigators the whole race, thinning the field of 35 down to 15 by the end.With two to go a rider from DU got away solo and all the other schools worked to bring him back. With half a lap to go Payson and Skyler did the final pull to bring it back in but then got swarmed but thusly were slightly out of position for the sprint and ended up 8th and 5th respectively. While the desired result was not achieved they did learn somelessons that can only be learned from racing.
The Women’s B race blew up from the beginning with 3 ladies from CU laying down the gauntlet. Meghan Kane stayed in contact for a while but then got separated with another racer from CU that wouldn’t work with her so got in some good race fitness. Ashleigh Weibel gave her all in her first mass-start race and all were glad to see the return of Nathalie Krantz to the women’s field.
Only 8 A Women showed up to race with CU having 4, DU-1, CSU-1 and FLC represented by Sarah and Lauren. The race stayed all together for the first half but eventually Sarah and 2 CU racers got away – not the best of situations being outnumbered in a breakaway but Sarah did well to stay protected and react to attacks while Lauren patrolled the main group to make sure nothing else got away. With 3 to go Sarah moved to the front, twisted the throttle all the way and rode the 2 CU ladies off her wheel in a display ofsheer horsepower to take the win going away. Lauren finished in the group.
The Skyhawk A Men were excited to see how they stacked up against the rest of the conference. The race started out fast and furious and the field all strung out the first couple laps when Griffin Easter and a CUracer got away. Right after that a crash happened that took out half the FLC racers – a couple got back in with wheel changes while the others had no hope. This blew the field into the breakaway of two, the main group of 15 or so and then a few groups of 2-3 trying to make it back up. Meanwhile the breakaway was growing their advantage on the main bunch while Howard Grotts and Gabe Murray made sure no one else would bridge up. Eventually, Griffin and his compatriot from CU caught the main group and lapped the field. Upon this happening FLC and CU racers moved to the back of the group to bring the leaders to the front to make sure they were out of harms way. Then Howard and Gabe did some great work of keeping the pace high on the front so no one else got away and kept Griffin well positioned. Going into the last lap CU had their lead out train churning full-speed while Griffin was glued to the CU riders wheel that he had lapped the field with. Going into the last corner Griffin was not in the best position in 4th, but came blazing out of the corner to blow by the other three and win the field sprint – wow! While it was a great individual effort by Griffin it was also a great effort by the team to have him in position for the win.
Post-race the team loaded up the trailer and hurriedlygrabbed some lunch because a winter storm was looming for the drive home. It was windy but relatively smooth sailing until the foot of Wolf Creek Pass when blizzard conditions set in. The caravan took it slow and easy with other vehicles stuck and spun out all over the place to make it back to Durango safely.
The FLC Skyhawk cyclists are of to Grand Junction thisweekend for the Colorado Mesa University home race that consists of a Team Time Trial, a downtown night Criterium and a very challenging Road Race.
Current USA Cycling Collegiate Overall Team Omnium results have been updated to include the recent CX Nationals – FLC Cycling is sitting on top of the standings with only Road Nationals left -
https://www.usacycling.org/2011-12-collegiate-rankings-updated-with-cyclo-cross-points.htm . Consistency is paying off with 2nd at Track Nats, 1st at MTB and 2nd at CX to give us a fairly good lead. Thanks to all the riders for giving it their all and the great support from our sponsors and community.
